{{Short description|Choctaw/Chickasaw artist and educator (1921–1976)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Chief | name = Terry Saul | other_names = Tabaksi, C. Terry Saul | birth_name = Carl Terry Saul | birth_date = April 2, 1921 | birth_place = Sardis, Oklahoma, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1976|05||1921||}} | death_place = Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S. | citizenship = Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, American | education = Bacone College,<br/> University of Oklahoma,<br/> Art Students League of New York }} '''Chief Carl Terry Saul''' (1921–1976) also known as '''C. Terry Saul''' and '''Tabaksi''', was a Choctaw Nation/Chickasaw illustrator, painter, muralist, commercial artist, and educator.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HavpAAAAMAAJ |title=Visions and Voices: Native American Painting from the Philbrook Museum of Art |date=1996 |publisher=Philbrook Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-86659-013-6 |language=en|pages=229–230}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Blue |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EsXZDwAAQBAJ |title=Indian Tribes of Oklahoma: A Guide |date=2020-09-03 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-6762-6 |pages=131 |language=en}}</ref> He was a leader of the Choctaw/Chickasaw tribe. He served as Director of the art program at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, from 1970 until 1976.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=Lawson |first1=Russell M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ou6yDwAAQBAJ |title=Race and Ethnicity in America: From Pre-contact to the Present [4 volumes] |last2=Lawson |first2=Benjamin A. |date=2019-10-11 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-5097-4 |pages=18 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1974-11-10 |title=Clipped From The Daily Oklahoman |pages=255 |work=The Daily Oklahoman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90686963/the-daily-oklahoman/ |access-date=2022-10-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== Biography == Saul was a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oaklandside.org/2024/08/28/obituary-william-terry-saul-oakland/ |title=Remembering William Terry Saul, Native elder, journalist and cosmically cool musician |publisher=The Oaklandside |accessdate=2024-10-22}}</ref> He attended Bacone College,<ref name=":0" /> where he studied under Acee Blue Eagle,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Neuman |first=Lisa K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vpDVDwAAQBAJ |title=Indian Play: Indigenous Identities at Bacone College |date=2020-03-09 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-1-4962-0932-0 |pages=204 |language=en}}</ref> and Woody Crumbo.<ref name=":1" /> His classmates at Bacone College included Walter Richard “Dick” West Sr. and Oscar Howe, all of which started the early process of departing for traditional Native art and painting-styles, and moving towards Surrealism and engaging in modernist aesthetics.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=White |first=Mark A. |date=2013 |editor-last=Mesch |editor-first=Claudia |title=A Modernist Moment: Native Art and Surrealism at the University of Oklahoma |url=https://arthist.net/archive/5934 |journal=Journal of Surrealism and the Americas |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=52–70}}</ref>
He served in the United States Army during World War II.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Terry Saul - Biography |url=https://www.askart.com/artist/Terry_Saul/102759/Terry_Saul.aspx |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=AskArt.com}}</ref> After the war, Saul continued his studies at University of Oklahoma, Norman (OU), where he received a BFA degree (1948) and MFA degree (1949); and at the Art Students League of New York, from 1951 to 1952.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> Saul was the first Native American student to receive a MFA degree from the University of Oklahoma.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sheets |first=Nan |date=1958-04-13 |title=33 Artists, Prize-Winners All: Indian Works Now on Display |pages=56 |work=The Daily Oklahoman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45604325/oscar-howe-okc-exhibit-1958/ |access-date=2022-10-10}}</ref>
In 1960, he lived in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and in addition to painting, Saul worked at the Phillips Petroleum Company.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=1960-12-11 |title=Saul Picture Goes to Wash. |pages=21 |work=Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111068500/saul-picture-goes-to-wash/ |access-date=2022-10-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He is known for his watercolor paintings, and casein paintings depicting Plains Tribes heritage and ceremonies.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 13, 1965 |title=Terry Saul Works in Linear Fashion |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/116652547/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Arizona Republic |page=70 |language=en |issn=0892-8711}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> He later returned to teach at Bacone College, where he served as the Director of the art program from 1970 to 1976.<ref name=":4" /> One of his students was Joan Brown.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Broder |first=Patricia Janis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qbd_AQAAQBAJ |title=Earth Songs, Moon Dreams: Paintings by American Indian Women |date=2013-12-10 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4668-5972-2 |pages=261 |language=en}}</ref>
His artwork is in museum collections, including the Gilcrease Museum,<ref>{{Cite web |title=C. Terry Saul |url=https://collections.gilcrease.org/creator/c-terry-saul |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Gilcrease Museum |language=en}}</ref> Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chief Terry Saul |url=http://www.ou.edu/fjjma/collections0/featured-collections/RennardStricklandCollection/chief-terry-saul.html |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=OU.edu |language=en-US}}</ref> and the Philbrook Museum of Art.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Choctaw Sick Dance, Terry Saul (Chief Terry Saul; Tobaksi, Ember of Fire or the Coal), Choctaw, Watercolor |url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/exhibition/art-gallery/index/images/ob1790.html |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Native Voices}}</ref>
== Publications ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Grerory |first1=Jack |title=Choctaw Spirit Tales |last2=Strickland |first2=Rennard |publisher=Hoffman Printing Company |others=Chief Terry Saul (illustrations), Indian Heritage Association |year=1972 |edition=1st |location=Muskogee, OK}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saul, Terry}} Category:1921 births Category:1976 deaths Category:American people of Chickasaw descent Category:Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma people Category:Chickasaw male artists Category:Chickasaw artists Category:Bacone College alumni Category:Bacone College faculty Category:University of Oklahoma alumni Category:Art Students League of New York alumni Category:Native American painters Category:People from Pushmataha County, Oklahoma Category:People from Bartlesville, Oklahoma Category:United States Army personnel of World War II Category:Native American illustrators Category:Painters from Oklahoma Category:20th-century American painters Category:20th-century American male artists